In 48 hours, it has racked up 1.4 million views, and throughout that time the film has remained the most popular video in Russia.
A friend of mine said he organized a small private screening for active-duty cops. He says that, hardened as that crowd is, even they were shocked by the Tsapoks.
Even people who are literally paid to criticize us now agree that our facts are accurate (here and here). It is impossible to deny, and no one wants to defend Chaika and the Tsapok-linked prosecutors with a “on the one hand, on the other hand” routine either. Even the most die-hard Putin loyalist is not ready to see the Prosecutor General’s Office headed by the business partners of Seryoga Tsapok and Slavka Tsepovyaz.
So far, the only one staying silent is the person who, by law, is supposed to initiate Chaika’s dismissal.
The dismissal procedure is set out in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Article 83 of the Russian Constitution defines the President’s core powers. These include removing the Prosecutor General from office. To do that, the president must submit a formal proposal to the Federation Council to dismiss the Prosecutor General.
A similar legal provision is also contained in the Russian law “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation” (Article 12, Clause 1).
It is important to understand that under the law, no one except Putin or Chaika himself can initiate Chaika’s dismissal. Consequently, Putin bears personal responsibility for every day that such a person remains in the office of Prosecutor General — a position that is supposed to embody honesty and incorruptibility.
From a technical standpoint, the procedure is fairly simple. It is described in detail in Chapter 25 of the Federation Council’s rules of procedure.
This is how it works:
Putin sends Matviyenko an official letter proposing that Chaika be dismissed.
The proposal is reviewed by the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building and the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, which must prepare the relevant opinions.
Matviyenko convenes a session of the Federation Council and puts to a vote the resolution to remove Chaika from the post of Prosecutor General.
At the session, either Putin personally or his authorized representative, Artur Muravyov, must speak, along with representatives of the committees mentioned above. Chaika himself may also speak.
The senators vote by secret ballot on the president’s proposal, which passes by a simple majority.
That same day, Chaika becomes an ordinary citizen against whom a criminal case can easily be opened.
Given how quickly the Federation Council decided on authorizing the use of armed forces outside Russia’s territory during the Crimea situation, Chaika could be dealt with by the middle of next week.
Besides, Putin already has experience dismissing prosecutors general. In April 2000, the Federation Council, acting on a submission from the acting president, removed Skuratov from office; his sins, compared with Chaika’s deeds, were mere childish pranks.
And in June 2006, he submitted a motion to the Federation Council to remove Prosecutor General Ustinov from office.
There is already an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation demanding that he propose to the Federation Council that Chaika be dismissed. You can read it.
It was also delivered to the Federation Council
So far, we have been hearing that the Kremlin has not been able to review the ACF investigation because it was busy preparing the address.
That’s it — the address has been delivered today. Now we wait for a reaction. The more widely we spread the film and the investigation, the greater the chance that we will get one.